Roman Patočka, violin

concertmaster

romanpatocka.com/ 

Helena Jiříkovská, violin, deputy concertmaster,

after graduating from the Pilsen Conservatoire, she continued her studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and at HAMU in Prague. She is a sought-after chamber musician who performs on many stages in the Czech Republic and abroad. As a soloist, she has performed with, for example, the Bamberger Symphoniker and the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig. She has performed at venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York. From 2008 to 2022, she was the first violinist of the Škamp Quartet and also held a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

An oboist and soloist with the ensemble, he studied in his hometown of Turin, in Hanover and in Geneva under Maurice Bourqe. He won the Sony International Competition in Tokyo and the Prague Spring Competition. As a soloist, he has performed all over the world and at renowned festivals. He specialises in the performance of early music and has recorded CDs for Sony Classical, Foné and Brillant.

Jakub Marek, leader II violin

Petr Hamouz graduated from the Prague Conservatoire, where he studied under Tomáš Strašil, and during his studies began to devote himself intensively to the historical cello and the performance of early music. He took part in a number of summer courses and masterclasses with leading performers, such as Jennifer Morsches, Bruno Cocset, Christophe Coin and Hidemi Suzuki.

After completing his bachelor’s degree at the Týn School and Charles University in Prague under the guidance of Marek Štryncl, he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Lucie Swarts and Jaap ter Linden. In 2014, he was awarded a Master of Music degree with honours *cum laude*.

During the 2012/13 season, Petr was selected to join the European Union Baroque Orchestra and took part in concert tours conducted by figures such as Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Margaret Faultless, Riccardo Minasi and Paul Agnew. In the same year, he became a founding member of the ensemble Radio Antiqua, with whom he performs regularly. Among their greatest achievements are victory at the Göttingen Historical Music Series 2013/2014 and joint second place *ex-aequo*, along with the audience prize, at the Van Wassenaer Competition in 2016.

Petr performs throughout Europe and has collaborated with leading ensembles and artists such as Ensemble Inégal, Musica Florea, Collegium 1704, Arte dei Suonatori, the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, The Counterpoints, PRJCT Amsterdam, Collegium Marianum, the Kölner Akademie and the Czech Ensemble Baroque.

Filip Dvořák studied piano at the Brno Conservatoire.  His interest in early music led him to study harpsichord and historically informed performance of early music at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the class of Prof. G. L. Mrázková, and basso continuo under the guidance of Václav Luks. He deepened his interest in the performance of early music through a study visit to the F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music in Leipzig.

He collaborates with the ensembles Musica Florea, Collegium 1704 and Ensemble Inégal. Recently, he has been working closely with the violinist and composer Jiří Sycha. He is also deeply involved in the construction, intonation and tuning of harpsichords at František Vyhnálek’s workshop in Hovorčovice.

Jan Nykrýn, leader of the viola section of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, studied the viola at the Prague Conservatoire and gained valuable performance experience at Lawrence University in the USA. He completed his studies at Charles University in 2002.

Between 1995 and 2007, he was a member of the chamber ensemble České noneto, with whom he took part in recordings for radio and television broadcasters around the world, as well as on ten CDs for Harmonia Mundi – Praga Digitals.

His interest in chamber music led him to collaborate with the Capella da camera Praga ensemble. He also teaches chamber music at courses organised by the Kinsky Trio. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK), where he has served as principal violist since 2023.

He began studying the bassoon at the Military Conservatoire in Roudnice nad Labem under Miroslav Loučka, then continued at the Prague Conservatoire under Prof. Michael Verner, and completed his musical education at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) in the class of Prof. František Herman and Prof. Jiří Seidl. He has performed with the Prague Garrison Band, and as principal bassoonist with the Brno Philharmonic; he currently holds the post of principal bassoonist with the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) and the PKF – Prague Philharmonia. He also enjoys performing chamber music.

She began playing the violin at the age of four under the guidance of Magdaléna Micková.

She studied with Prof. Pavel Kudelásek at the Prague Conservatoire and, in 1999, won first prize at the Concertino Praga competition; as a member of the Pavel Hass Quartet, she won first prize with the ensemble at the Prague Spring festival in 2006, as well as first prize at the Premio Paolo Porcianni in Italy. She studied chamber music with Walter Levinn of the La Salle Quartet.

Since 2007, she has been a member of the first violin section of the FOK Symphony Orchestra.

Esther Neumann studied violin at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and Baroque violin at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz under Prof. Michi Gaigg. She went on to study with Prof. Lucy van Dael in Amsterdam and with Petra Müllejans in Frankfurt am Main, where she specialised in historical music performance.

She has performed with a number of Austrian symphony orchestras, as well as Baroque ensembles such as the Freiburger Barockorchester and L’Orfeo Barockorchester. In addition to performing Baroque music, she also specialises in the Romantic repertoire and is the founder of the Originalklang!Orchester.

He studied the French horn at the Conservatoire in Pardubice under Prof. Otakar Tvrdý (1978–1984) and at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Prof. Zdeněk Tylšar (1984–1988). From 1984, he served as principal horn with the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK).

At the 1987 Prague Spring International Music Competition, he was awarded third prize, the title of laureate and a special prize from the Czech Music Fund. Since 2002, he has been teaching the French horn at the Prague Conservatoire. As a soloist, he has collaborated with numerous orchestras both at home and abroad. In 2007, he recorded a CD of Mozart’s French horn concertos for the Japanese label Victor. He is deeply committed to chamber music – performing, for example, with the wind quintet Musica per cinque, the Czech Wind Sextet and other ensembles. His solo repertoire includes works by all the major composers who have written for the French horn – such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jan Václav Stich-Punt, Joseph Haydn, Paul Hindemith, František Antonín Rössler-Rosetti, Richard Strauss, Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonio Vivaldi and Christoph Förster.

After graduating from the Pilsen Conservatoire, Petr Zirhut continued his studies with Prof. J. Petráš at JAMU, where he was also introduced to historically informed performance in the classes of Barbara M. Willi. He has performed with many Czech orchestras and is currently a member of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Among his greatest achievements is second place at the Žestě Brno international competition.

Jaroslav Matějka studied at the Prague Conservatoire under Prof. Viktor Moučka, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Associate Professor Miroslav Petráš, and chamber music at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts under Prof. Michael Schnitzler. He has taken part in a number of international performance masterclasses. His repertoire consists mainly of chamber music, to which he has devoted himself intensively since his conservatoire studies. Until 2024, he was a member of the renowned Martinů Trio, with whom he won numerous international awards and performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world. Since 1994, he has served as deputy concertmaster of the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK). He plays an instrument made by master violin maker Miroslav Komár.